The walk there wasn't long, though my feet were already starting to hurt. I wasn't used to walking on this kind of uneven ground. Though I was wearing flats instead of heels, they still weren't made for this.
I could already tell this was going to be a long day.
Especially if Brooks kept that shirt unbuttoned.
Chapter five
Brooks
We made it tothe chicken coop, but my mind was still on what Blake had said. I didn't know why I was being so sensitive. He didn't mean anything by it, and Sydney didn't seem affected, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
I could hear the clucks of the chickens as we neared. They needed to be fed, and the eggs collected. Normally, someone else would take care of it, but I had changed everyone’s schedule to create the easiest tour possible, so I gave myself all those jobs since I would be here anyway.
"I'm just going to do their feeding and collecting. Do you need anything?"
"I'm fine."
I went about my business, looking up to see her observing and taking notes every once in a while. It was like I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I had caught her looking at me earlier while I was putting some of the boards together. It went on for a while, but I couldn't be sure if it was because she was interested in me, or because she had never seen a satyr before.
Though monsters were all over the place, they tended to stay in higher concentrations together, like here in Hallow's Cove. This meant that the humans who came here hadn't had many interactions with one, so her potential curiosity made sense.
Still, I just couldn’t help hoping it was the former.
I scooped the feed into the measuring cup and started pouring the seed around. The chickens all ran to me, ready to eat, which gave me the opportunity to sneak into the coop and grab the eggs they left. There was one chicken in there, being broody over her eggs, and since she almost got my hand when I tried to nudge her, I gave up and let her keep them.
Job done, I took the basket and headed out to Sydney. She was still standing there, but she had swapped the tablet in her hand for a professional-looking camera and was snapping photos of the chickens. She had that same intense gaze she’d given me earlier, but when she pulled back and looked at the photos she took, there was something lighter—almost excited—in her eyes.
I had to look away, not willing to be caught staring.
"Brooks," I heard her call and turned around. "I think this one is in the wrong place."
When she turned slightly, I saw Chicken's blue head tilted to the side, looking up at her.
"Oh, that's Chicken," I said.
She looked at Chicken, then back at me. "I know it's the wrong color, but it’s shaped way more like a duck than a chicken.”
I couldn't help it; I laughed. A knee-bending, belly laugh. Tears came to my eyes, and my abs hurt by the time I was done.
"What's so funny?" she asked. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "Is this some strange kind of chicken I didn’t know about?”
I wiped a tear from my eye. "No, that's notachicken, he’s my pet ducknamedChicken. And he’s not the wrong color, he's a harlequin duck."
She looked at him again. "You have apet duck?"
"More like he has a pet human," I said. "He just claimed me one day and now won't leave. I take him to the other ducks during the day, but it seems that he managed to escape and find us.”
He leaned up against her leg and rubbed. "Can I pet him?" she asked.
"Yeah, he usually likes it." He'd only ever bitten Beau, but that’s because he held the snack he was feeding him a bit too close to his fingers.
She bent down and stuck her hand out tentatively, then patted the top of his head. He ruffled his feathers a bit before pushing back against her touch. It wasn't that he didn't like people, because he was a people duck, but he seemed to really like Sydney.
"He's so cute," she said, standing up and brushing herself off.
"Is that for work?" I asked, pointing to the camera still hanging around her neck.
She turned it away from me slightly, as if keeping a secret.
